Fisheries recovery in doubt due to lack of data collection, control and enforcement

Brussels, Belgium:Less than two weeks before the EU Parliament PECHE committee votes on how to spend nearly €6.57 billion on the fisheries sector, the new economics foundation (nef) has published a briefing “Unknown Waters”, highlighting how little we really know about the state of fish stocks in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Sea. Even more startling is that between 30-40% of fish we eat comes from illegal, unreported or unregulated stocks.

According to Roberto Ferrigno, WWF’s Common Fisheries Policy reform coordinator,

“If we are going to restore fish stocks to sustainable levels, then MEPs who will vote on funds for the fisheries sector on the 23rd of October, need to read the evidence compiled by the new economics foundation so that they can make that vote the right way and create jobs and feed citizens in the future.”

"Spending taxpayers' money on new boats is not the answer. The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund must support full involvement of fishermen and coastal communities in the sustainable management of the marine resources. Therefore we need more funding for data collection, control and enforcement. We need public money to support innovative fishing practices, so that we can manage fisheries sustainably and allow depleted stocks to recover.”

The briefing highlights:

•Up to 100,000 job can be created and €3.2 billion in additional annual revenue

is possible when stocks are allowed to recover;

•Currently we are spending only €51.1million on data protection, which represents only about 0.75% of all catches;

•For every €1 invested in data collection control and enforcement, there is a potential return of €10.